Japanese whalers have started to hunt up to 51 minke whales in coastal waters off the northeast of the country despite long-standing international criticism.
A fleet of four whaling ships left Ayukawa port in Ishinomaki city, 340km northeast of Tokyo, for a trip to last to late May.
The Association for Community-Based Whaling, a nonprofit group for what they call coastal research whaling, plans to hunt in an 80km radius from the port.
In March 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's research whaling programme in the Antarctic contravened a 1986 moratorium on whale hunting.
The ruling led Japan to suspend whaling in the Antarctic in the 2014 season. But it resumed the operation in December and caught 333 minke whales in the Southern Ocean during a two-month hunt.
In 1987, Japan officially halted commercial whaling in response to the previous year's moratorium. The country, however, has since used a loophole to continue whaling under the premise of scientific research despite international criticism.
Share
